Search ships set sail from Brazil on way to search for crashed Air France data recorders

Search ships on way to zone of crashed Air France

PARIS — Two search ships have set sail from Brazil and are on the way to hunt for debris and flight and data recorders from an Air France jetliner crash that killed 228 people last year.

Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for French accident investigation agency BEA, says the U.S. and Norwegian ships left Recife on Monday and are expected to reach the mid-Atlantic search zone in about two days.

The 30-day operation will use sonar-equipped robot submarines and machines dragged underwater to scour the mountainous seabed, perhaps as many as 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) below the surface.